Hand-operated bar clamps are well known. A representative example of a prior art bar clamp is shown in FIG. 1. Prior art bar clamp 10 can comprise bar 12 and housing 14 disposed thereon. Housing 14 can comprise fixed handle 16 and movable handle 18 that can operate as a “pistol grip.” Housing 14 can comprise clamp head 24. Fixed clamp head 22 can be disposed on one end of bar 12 such that the clamp heads are facing towards each other. To operate bar clamp 10, a person uses their hand to squeeze handle 18 towards fixed handle 16. In so doing, housing 14 advances along bar 12 such that clamp head 24 approaches clamp head 22 to clamp an object placed therebetween. It is also known that fixed clamp head 22 can be moved to the opposite end of bar 12 such that the clamp heads are facing away from each other (not shown). In this configuration, bar clamp 10 can be used as a “spreader” to force one object away from another. To release bar clamp 10 from applying a clamping or spreading force, release trigger 20 can be operated to release the force applied by bar clamp 10.
Operating bar clamp 10 in the manner described above can require a significant amount of force to be applied by one hand depending on what is being clamped together or forced apart. In some situations, the force required is greater than what can be applied by squeezing with one hand. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a mechanism that can multiply the force that is applied to the fixed and movable handles of a bar clamp.